Fashions – 1844

Five women are depicted. The woman on the top left wears a white lace cap with pink flowers and blue ribbons. She wears an off-the-shoulder light brown dress with wide lace-edged white lapels and cuffs. The woman at the top middle wears a white lace cap with yellow ribbons and bows, and a white underdress or blouse with a high neck, a narrow lace collar, and a dark ribbon tie. Over that she is wearing a blue jacket or overdress with yellow lapels, and frogs with tassels trimming the center front of the skirt.

She holds two large red books or portfolios under her left arm. The woman on the top right wears a white lace cap with pink ribbons, and a a mint green dress. The dress has a decollete neck and a wide white lace fichu or shawl collar, fastened with an oval brooch with a red stone, and white ruffled cuffs. The woman on the bottom left wears a pink bonnet with a a wreath of roses around the crown, and a green dress with a brocade pattern and white collar and cuffs. Over it she wears a a black lace shawl or mantelet, edged with a very wide ruffle.She holds a handkerchief in her left hand.

The woman on the bottom right wears a yellow bonnet with a yellow plume and a blue dress with military style bands across the front of the bodice and on the sleeve ends in darker blue, narrow ruffles edging the sleeves and peplum, and tassel-like accents down the center front of the skirt, also in darker blue. She also wears yellow gloves.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges